WINFIELD, Kan. – The Southwestern College volleyball team celebrated Senior Night on Homecoming Saturday inside Stewart Field House against the Friends University Falcons. Unfortunately, following the senior festivities, there was not much of a celebration, as Southwestern fell in straight sets to the visiting squad.

Following their three-game winning streak, Southwestern struggled mightily to crack the Falcons' defensive scheme. In set number one, SC actually had their best showing on offense, hitting at .163 for the stanza. The difficult thing about the opening set was the Builders' inability to stop Friends. A .419 attacking clip is unheard of, and the Falcons were able to reach that mark, while downing 15 attempts and only committing two errors. The set ended 25-20, putting Southwestern down early.

The second set followed a different trend, as SC was simply wretched in their attacking approaches. A -.178 attacking percentage where the Moundbuilders had just three kills in the set led to a lopsided 25-14 loss in the middle stanza.

Southwestern swung poorly again in the final set, but were able to end up in the positive at .085 for the frame. The team had 30 kills in comparison to 27 attacking errors in the match, ending up at just .022 for the entirety of the battle. Conversely, Friends came down to earth a bit after the unreal opening frame, but they still remained at .275 for the tilt. They would win 25-21 in the third set, vaulting themselves above Southwestern in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) standings in the process.

Brianna Ede was one of just two Moundbuilders with five or more kills. She led the squad with nine putaways on 22 attempts, having accumulated miscues on six of those swings. Hannah Weber was able to total seven kills on her 35 tries, though she committed only two errors in the match.

Sierra Norlin's 13 assists led the team, while Maela Stevens had 11. The two seniors continued to split setting duties on Saturday, as they racked up all but three of the team's distributions.

Sophia Wicker led the team with 18 digs, averaging six digs-per-set. She was followed by Kinley Williams as the only other Moundbuilder to reach double-digit digs. She had 12 in the bout for Southwestern.

The Builders (7-11, 3-4 KCAC) were hoping to continue their winning ways on Senior Night, but were delivered a rude awakening, as they look ahead now to this Wednesday, October 19 in York, Neb. against the York University Panthers. Following that battle, the squad will have four remaining conference matches to improve their standing before the KCAC Tournament.

--buildersports.com--